One man show lighting kit. Need advice

V

Vampiresoup

Well-known member
So I'm buying a dv creator kit. I'd LOVE some of your advice on this.

I'm thinking of getting the middle of the road kit.
(The DV Creator 44)

Do y'all think that's a good idea?

I realllly need to get my own lighting kit soon. Renting is getting to be a pain. Can I achive the same look with these lights as I would with the one kinoflo diva I usually rent?

HERE IS THE LINK
http://www.dvshop.ca/lighting/lowelkits.html

Thanks in advance!


Andrew
 
It depends on the look you want. Do you have a sample of something you shot with the kinoflo that you're trying to duplicate ?
 
My lighting is crap at best. I point the light at their face and shoot. I want to get better at it and I'm looking for a good kit that would be diverse enough to let me play but not so elaborate that I only use 1/3 of the lights.
 
My light kit is very basic, its probably enough to get by for small set narrative and interviews. I usually rent based on what I am being paid to shoot. This way I get to play with the nice toys.

Im going to increase my personal set up with some from Richards collection early next year as my circumstances will change that I need amore permanant set up in a studio space.
 
I have that same kit, but with the soft case. I use it for run and gun interviews, where I need to set up quick, and it works quite well. It's not as solid as an Arri kit, but I'm not abusing them so it's not a problem. The omni light, when used with the included gel frame and diffuser can create a soft light source, as can the tota with umbrella. The little pro light is probably the best in the kit, very small and can be focused to a pretty tight beam.
The stands aren't very sturdy, but they're lite and they get the job done.

The omni and the pro light can be controlled to some extent with the barn doors. The tota is a broad fill light, can't really control it all that much, it's good for a key or a fill, or just to raise the ambient light in the room. I switched out the 750 lamp for a 500, and I use the tota and umbrella for fill. I use the omni for my key light, and the pro for the rim light.

Just sharing my experience with the kit. I'm by no means an expert. If you're used to using Kino's maybe you should look into some of Richard's lights. http://www.coollights.biz/
I hope whatever you select helps you in creating your wacky make-em-ups about rapping monsters and misguided orgie attempts.
-Kevin
 
It's not as solid as an Arri kit
Click to expand...
Arri is not that solid. Take an Arri open face 800, trip it over once... when it hits the wrong spot, the whole housing will break, including the focus wheel, leaving you with an un-focusable and very hazardous piece of equipment.
 
Hi FBAS:

Arri doesn't make an open face 800 watt light, they make an open face 600 and an open face 1k.

Arri lights are quite robust. Moles are more robust but the Arris hold up if you don't abuse them.

Dan
 
Just bought ten of these for school, they're nice.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/191196-REG/Mole_Richardson_58212_Betweenie_4_Light_Combo.html

Added a chimera and speedring to complete the kit. The stands are a little light weight, I'd perfer steel instead of aluminmum. The overall kit is a bit heavy, but manageable. The lights will last forever, they're rugged. Everything fits well in the case and thier easy to pack. They'd be great for an interview kit, get a rubbermaid cart like this

http://www.globalindustrial.com/gcs...m.itemKey=30077281&infoParam.picGroupKey=3661

Stick the light kit on the bottom shelf and your camera and sound gear on the top shelf and your ready to roll, but you'll have rock solid professional equipment.
 
FBAS said:
Arri is not that solid. Take an Arri open face 800, trip it over once... when it hits the wrong spot, the whole housing will break, including the focus wheel, leaving you with an un-focusable and very hazardous piece of equipment.
Click to expand...


That is why using sandbags is a necessity so this wouldn't happen. I use them on my Arri 600 open pars..They are to me a lot more solid than Lowels. But not a beast like the Moles.
 
puredrifting said:
Hi FBAS:

Arri doesn't make an open face 800 watt light, they make an open face 600 and an open face 1k.

Arri lights are quite robust. Moles are more robust but the Arris hold up if you don't abuse them.

Dan
Click to expand...

Arri DOES make 800s, it´s the most common open face fixture in ENG, at least in Europe.


1193442409.png


BTW Totas are 800w in Europe too...
 
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That's true about the 800w I was just going to say something but I always thought Redheads were the most commonly used ENG type fixture in Europe...
 
Spartacus:

Ahh, here I go, being way too American-centric. I stand corrected, I was speaking of my market, the U.S. Seeing as FBAS is in Germany, I was definitely wrong although I didn't know Arri made an 800 for EU.

Dan
 
That's interesting - I never realized different lights were offered in different markets like that.
Anyone have any idea why an 800 isn't available in the US but so popular in Europe? Is this an issue of current differences, or just market preference?

I can think of quite a few situations where an 800 would been ideal, and all I had were either 650 or 1K lights.
 
I think the European light market is primarily in German hands.
Arri, Sachtler, Dedolight.
The Italians come next with Ianiro and Cosmolight.
I guess the different voltages came from the available bulbs in each continent.
Maybe 15 years ago GE was making 650s and Phillips made 800s...?
With modern cameras 800w is too much in most situations indoors.
But when you need to flood a place with light, they become handy again.
And I rather have 800s and dimm them to 50% than carry around 300s and end up wanting/needing more light to do a scene...
 
Cool Lights said:
That's true about the 800w I was just going to say something but I always thought Redheads were the most commonly used ENG type fixture in Europe...
Click to expand...

Most people only think of fresnels when thinking of Arri fixtures, but the Arrilite 800 openface realy is a standard with ENG teams.
But Redheads are of course also used a lot, being about 30% cheaper than the Arris...
 
We have one of the Arri 800 three-piece kits and a 4-piece GunLux with two 650W and two 1kW. The GunLux set was cheaper than the Arri even it has one lamp more. The GunLux can definitely take more beating than the Arri before the focussing gets stuck or anything like that. You'd have to run over it with a car to break the GunLux.
I think the Arri also feels a little cheaper when you turn the focussing wheel, it squeaks and rattles. I don't know if this is the same with the Arri fresnels, we only have Ianiro and Hamayeh fresnels in the studio (the second being Iranian as far as I know, but they are awesome, huge fresnel lens, very even light output).

I'm not bashing Arri or something, I just say that from my experience with these open face units in direct comparison to a cheaper solution, they just lose in every aspect except looks. It's blue and says "Arri" - how could you beat that? The look alone just stands for "big movie production"
 
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